Ah, the summer. The time of the year where the box office is ruled by superhero movies, science fiction extravaganzas and, uh, slightly quirky cancer weepies. What? For reasons that will baffle some people, 'The Fault in Our Stars' effortlessly took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, gliding past its bigger, more expensive and more ferocious competition and making it look easy.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

The Fault in Our Stars

$48,200,000

$15,191

$48,200,000

2

Maleficent

$33,523,000 (-51.7)

$8,491

$127,370,000

3

Edge of Tomorrow

$29,105,000

$8,340

$29,105,000

4

X-Men: Days of Future Past

$14,700,000 (-54.8)

$4,040

$189,101,000

5

A Million Ways to Die in the West

$7,189,000 (-57.2)

$2,275

$30,088,000

6

Godzilla

$5,950,000 (-50.5)

$1,913

$185,043,000

7

Neighbors

$5,201,000 (-35.6)

$1,945

$137,801,000

8

Blended

$4,050,000 (-50.3)

$1,383

$36,509,000

9

Chef

$2,600,000 (+36.0)

$2,003

$10,362,000

10

Million Dollar Arm

$1,822,000 (-49.2)

$1,109

$31,347,000

With a budget of only $12 million, 'The Fault in Our Stars' would have been a hit if its final gross was $48 million, not its opening weekend. This is exciting and weird news for a few reasons. It's exciting because it proves that small, romantic, non-supernatural dramas can open in the heat of the summer just as well as "normal" blockbusters. Also, it's the second Shailene Woodley-led film to open huge in only a few months, instantly putting her on the same pedestal as Jennifer Lawrence in the "newly minted movie stars" camp. It's weird because this weepie cut one of the biggest movie stars off at the knees without even blinking.

The $29 million opening for 'Edge of Tomorrow' isn't completely disastrous, but it's also a rough start for a movie that's spent the past six months battling a truly horrendous marketing campaign. There's a reason critics were so pleasantly surprised when this film turned out to be so much fun: they were expecting a slog. So were audiences, who ignored a wild, funny and massively entertaining film because the studio kept on telling them it was something else. There's always a chance for word of mouth to help turn things around, but it's a longshot.

To rub further salt into Tom Cruise's wounds, 'Maleficent' dropped to the number two slot and stayed ahead of 'Edge of Tomorrow,' grossing $33 million over the weekend for a $127 million total. At this rate, $200 million is certainly looking doable, which should be fine. This was never going to do 'Alice in Wonderland' business and the international grosses will ensure its profitability. In fourth place, 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' made $14 million, bringing its total to $189 million. It still has a strong chance of becoming the highest grossing X-Men movie yet (it's already achieved this internationally) but it's going to have to work for it.

In fifth place, 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' continued to stumble, taking a large drop and grossing only $7 million in its second week. With a currently total of $30 million, Seth MacFarlane only has his 'Family Guy' billions to keep him happy this week.

'Godzilla' led the back half of the top 10, grossing $5 million for a $185 million total. $200 million is all-but-guaranteed at this point, but any dollar beyond that is a huge, sweeping victory. 'Neighbors' continued kicking 'Blended''s butt in the comedy department, with the former hitting $137 million and the latter still struggling to get to $40 million. 'Chef' held onto ninth place thanks to a well-timed expansion, bringing its total so far to $10 million (and putting it further down the road to sleeper hit status).